


A Silver Bow New Bent in Heaven

by sewerkingcharlie



Category: It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia
Genre: Character Development, Domesticity, Gay Feelings, Husbands, Insecurity, M/M, Pride, Self-Acceptance, au where they’re married and shit bc i like to be indulgent sometimes, married au, set after s14, soft n happy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:20:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23369110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sewerkingcharlie/pseuds/sewerkingcharlie
Summary: Dennis and Mac have been married for a couple of years. They sleep in, what was, Dennis’ room together, they do all the same Mac and Dennis stuff as they used to, but some things are new.Every day, after Dennis showers, Mac will do his hair, and every Wednesday without fail, he’ll cover up Dennis’ stubborn grey strands of hair with cheap brown hair dye. It is a part of their routine.Until it changes.
Relationships: Mac McDonald/Dennis Reynolds
Comments: 8
Kudos: 87





	A Silver Bow New Bent in Heaven

Dennis was sat cross legged on the floor. He was nestled in between Mac's legs - Mac who was sat on the bed, running his hands through Dennis’ wet hair. Mac was comforting to Dennis, although his fingers were still clumsy and encountered knots, frequently, even after all this time. It was a daily occurrence, and had been for a number of years; Dennis would have a shower, get into pyjamas, and sit between Mac's legs on the floor, at the foot of the bed.

It was a Wednesday, and today, Dennis had showered a little later than he usually would. You see, it was nearly midnight, where he’d usually shower in the early evening, but Mac had convinced Dennis to watch ‘Rent’, a musical, as he’d impulsively bought a brand new copy of it. They’d had a small, mock-domestic about that; why buy a new copy and spend $13 when they could’ve just rented it, or streamed it? Mac had mentioned something about supporting LGBT+ creators, to which Dennis had rolled his eyes and let Mac win that one. 

As they were approaching their third wedding anniversary, Dennis was beginning to realise how different he and Mac were, in relation to their identities. Mac was loud about his sexuality, and Dennis was more subtle to the general eye - a shining example of this, was the first pride parade they attended together. Mac had been wearing an extremely baggy, rainbow tie-dye vest top, shorts that fell half way down his thigh and socks that reached his knee, all variations of bright, brash colours. Dennis vividly remembered a sticker Mac had been given at a stall, a large one that said, in bold comic sans, ‘I LOVE MY HUSBAND’. Dennis had rarely seen Mac get so enthusiastic about something so utterly embarrassing. 

Dennis, on the other hand, had worn a black vest top and blue jeans. The only things that pointed to his identity were a little pink triangle badge he had pinned to his vest top, and a tiny little face-paint rainbow on his cheek. By the end of the day, however, Dennis ended up with a lot more LGBT+ paraphernalia; notably, the same sticker that Mac was wearing, but he only chose to wore that sticker after a younger beefcake tried to hit on his husband, his Mac.

Pride was good, although Mac had decided to tone it down a little the next year, which he did.

The phenomenon of stereotypically gay Mac continued that Wednesday, nearing their third year of marriage, when he’d suggested watching ‘Rent’. Dennis kept an open mind, and watched it all the way through without complaining or criticising too much. Then, the musical had finished, and it was 11pm, and Dennis needed to shower, so he eventually stood up from the sofa, where he’d been nestled into Mac quite comfortably. He headed to the bathroom, sharing pleasant chat with Mac all the way up until the shower water started flowing.

So there they were, in the same position as they always sat everyday. If Dennis was lucky, Mac would massage his shoulders, but Mac wouldn’t dish those out willy nilly - it would be if he could tell that Dennis was stressed or irritated by something. Today wasn’t a massage day, but it was hair dye day; a box of dirt cheap brown hair dye, the same one they always bought. The bottle would last for a while, because Mac wouldn’t dye the entirety of Dennis’ hair, he’d just eradicate the silver hairs.

The silver hairs, that reminded Dennis that he wasn’t 25 anymore, that he wasn’t young, energetic, optimistic. Silver hairs were also a reminder that as he grew older, he became less and less happy, and sure, that used to be the case. 

Dennis was happy now, for the most part. He was as happy as he was gonna get. 

Dyeing his hair seemed almost artificial at this point, but it was a ritual of domesticity he wasn’t willing to sacrifice. It was the sort of thing he’d fucking yearned for, from the day he met Mac to the untraditional day they got engaged.

_“Shut up, bozo! Whoever it is totally loves you back, and your whinging is starting to piss me off.” Mac was irritated, and he wasn’t holding back._

_They were yelling at each other, and had been for nearly an hour at that point._

_“As if you’d fucking know, asshole. You wouldn’t know unrequited love if it smacked you in the fucking face,” Dennis yelled, gesticulating wildly, angrily._

_“No?”_

_“No.”_

_“You think that, huh?”_

_“I know that.”_

_“Well, Mr Fucking Know-it-All, did you know this was gonna happen today?” Mac dropped to one knee. Dennis’ heart stopped, and his angry demeanour melted away into one of sheer confusion. Mac looked around desperately, reaching so vigorously for Dennis’ bag of abandoned Haribo on their coffee table. He rifled through them for a few seconds, looking for something._

_“Those are mine-“_

_“Marry me,” Mac triumphantly pulled out a gummy ring, holding it up in front of Dennis, who’s hands were shaking so violently, he was crossing his arms and holding his hands at his sides. He wanted to say ‘yes’, there and then, but that would’ve been stupid. So he didn’t, not straight away._

_“You’re making a lot of assumptions there,” Dennis raised an eyebrow, forcing composure. “You think I want to get married, you think I’m gay, and you think that the person I’m into, is you.”_

_“Do you want to get married?”_

_“Yeah.”_

_“Are you gay?”_

_Dennis’ nose twitched and looked away._

_“Yeah.”_

_“Is it me?”_

_‘“Obviously.”_

_“Then get married to me, dude,” Mac half-smiled, talking in a loving voice that he knew would make Dennis look at him again. It worked, Dennis looking at Mac with a confused, uncertain frown. “To clarify, I love you. And uh, stuff.”_

_Dennis’ frown faltered. Hesitantly, he retracted one of his shaking hands from his side and reached out, taking the ‘ring’ from Mac. A glimmer of a smile ghosted his lips._

_“I’m not wearing this, man,” Dennis pursed his lips to suppress the smile from widening._

_“Is that your asshole way of saying yes?”_

_“... Yes.”_

_Mac beamed, standing up from where he’d been kneeling, watching Dennis examine the gummy ring with astounded, emotional fascination. Mac gave him a minute, just watching him, before nabbing the ring from in between Dennis, fingers._

_Dennis looked up, confused, wide-eyed, and watched Mac pop it into his mouth._

_“Asshole! That was my engagement ring!”_

_Mac shrugged._

_“You said you weren’t gonna wear it. Why waste a perfectly good Haribo?” Mac chewed the gummy ring, watching Dennis’ shocked and almost amused expression. “It’s cool man, we can go and get a proper one.”_

_“Yeah?”_

_“Yeah.”_

Dennis smiled, feeling Mac’s silver ring bump against his head, as his fingers ran through his locks. He loved this part of hair dye day, Mac playing with Dennis’ hair as he looked for silver hairs.

“There aren’t as many this week, Den,” Mac commented softly, and Dennis rolled his head back a little bit - not far enough to be able to see Mac's face, but far enough that he could feel the back of his head rest gently against Mac’s lower stomach. Dennis didn’t respond, just thought to himself.

Maybe getting older wasn’t such a bad thing, anymore. He could get old with Mac, and perhaps, Dennis thought, if he had company in ageing, maybe it wasn’t such a daunting prospect.

Besides, he’d spent enough of his life pretending to be something he wasn’t. A few grey hairs wouldn’t harm the balance of life that much, or at least, he hoped they wouldn’t. 

Mac reached for the bottle of dye and started shaking it, when Dennis spoke up.

“Just blow dry it today, Mac,” he said in a small, yet certain, voice.

Mac frowned in confusion, but didn’t protest, because why would he? He simply stopped shaking the bottle and placed in on the bed.

“You sure, man?” Mac returned his hands to Dennis’ rampantly wavy hair. “‘Cause I can dye it, I really don’t mind.”

“I know you don’t mind, baby, it’s just,” Dennis shrugged. “I think I’m over getting so upset about grey hairs and growing old and all that crap. I mean, I’m in my mid 40s, and it’s almost weird that I don’t have a couple of silvers up there, you know?”

Mac felt warm upon hearing these words, and caressed Dennis’ hair and scalp in little circular motions.

“Not to be disgusting, but,” Dennis paused. “We’ve been married for nearly three years, and I just, I don’t think that being old is so bad anymore. Not now that I know that somebody actually loves me, present tense.”

“Well, I’ll always love you,” Mac said simply. 

Dennis smiled softly, feeling Mac’s breathing rise and fall in his stomach. 

“Just a blow dry then, yeah?” Mac piped up after a moment of comfortable silence.

“Yeah. Just a blow dry.”

**Author's Note:**

> the title references a passage from a midsummer night’s dream: ‘and then the moon, like to a silver bow new bent in heaven, shall behold the night of our solemnities’


End file.
